Petroleum engineers design and develop methods for extracting oil and gas from deposits below the … [+]
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Petroleum engineers are one of the highest-paying jobs in several states, and command a median hourly wage of $66.02 per hour. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook, the employment of petroleum engineers is expected to grow by 8% from 2020 to 2030, which is about the same rate of growth as the average for all occupations.
According to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment Statistics, as of 2020, the average income of petroleum engineers is $154,330, almost three times as much as the national average for all occupations, $56,310. Depending on where you live, however, the average petroleum engineer salary could be higher or lower. Equally important, petroleum engineer employment is heavily influenced by geography since not all states have access to fossil fuel deposits or petroleum companies. Hence, the BLS does not have petroleum engineer salaries for every single state.
10 States Where Petroleum Engineers Earn the Most Money
The states with the highest petroleum engineer salaries are geographically a very mixed bunch. New Jersey offers the highest-paying petroleum engineer salary, with an average annual wage of $184,560. Texas and Florida — two states that notably have no state income tax — comes in second and third, respectively.
Here’s a list of the top 10 states in order of average incomes for petroleum engineers:
10 States Where Petroleum Engineers Earn the Least Money
The bottom 10 states where average petroleum engineer salaries are lowest can be markedly less than the national average petroleum engineer salary. In the lowest-paying state, Indiana, petroleum engineers earn $81,980 per year on average. That’s more than $70,000 less than the national average annual wage for petroleum engineers.
Here’s a list of the bottom 10 states in order of average incomes for petroleum engineers:
How Much Petroleum Engineers Earn in All 50 States
Here’s a look at average petroleum engineer salaries by state. The BLS does not have annual mean wage data available for 26 states from 2020, the latest year of BLS data, either because there are no petroleum engineer jobs or because data wasn’t available.